


I can’t read

by Mysisternormallydoesthispartforme



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Dad!Buck, Dyslexic!Buck, Eddie is a good dad, Maddie is a good sister, buckly parents suck, bucks parents suck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23783035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysisternormallydoesthispartforme/pseuds/Mysisternormallydoesthispartforme
Summary: Chris won’t accept help nor will he ask for it. Buck teaches him how to ask for help.OrBuck is dyslexic and uses his experience with shame to help Chris learn to ask for help.
Relationships: Evan “Buck” Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 175





	I can’t read

**Author's Note:**

> im Dyslexic and everything that happened to buck happened to me except I didn’t wreck a curry it was gluten free flour mix.   
> Also sorry about spelling and grammar I’m dyslexic   
> This is one of my favourite head cannons I wish that there were more people with dyslexia in media i hate that I was and still am ashamed of my dyslexia when it’s so common

“Mrs. Flores hi, what’s the matter is Chris ok”  
Eddies voice when from gentil to panicked in an instant   
“No, Chris is fine but I was hoping to meet with you and discuss Chris’s needs?”  
“Of course, when”  
“The next time I have open is tomorrow before school or Friday same time”  
“I’m not off work until tomorrow morning so Friday will have to do”  
“No worries Mr. Diaz I’ll see you then”  
Eddie hung up the phone and went back to dinner  
“What was that about, is Chris ok?”  
“Is Chris ok”  
Bobby and buck spoke at the same time equal amounts of concern in their voices. Only bobby sounded more reasonable.  
“Yeah Chris’s teacher just wants to go over his needs, again. I’m going in on Friday to meet with her.”  
“Ok good I’m glad Chris is ok”  
“Thanks cap”

“Bye Carla, see you on Sunday” in a softer voice Eddie told Chris to say bye as well.   
After Chris was settled down, Buck and Eddie were left to clean up together.  
“I know you have that meeting with Chris’s teacher tomorrow, do you want me to bring him to school later, or go with you?”  
“Honestly I don’t know if I’m supposed to take Chris with me or not, maybe you could come and watch him if he isn’t supposed to be part of the meeting. I should probably talk to him in the morning right? See if there is anything he needs”  
“That’s a great idea Eds, you can ask him about it on the way to the school tomorrow. For now I’m tired, let’s go to bed”  
That’s exactly what they did. They were too tired for anything else. Two grown men going to bed at 9 o’clock. Buck never though he would be in bed so early but he was too tired to care

The next morning the boys were up bright and early to get Chris to school just after 8. Buck made them breakfast while Chris got dressed and Eddie packed Chris’s lunch and backpack.  
“Ready to go?” Buck asked after they finished breakfast.   
“Yeah let's go come on dad bucky’s waiting”  
“I’m coming” eddie was coming out of the other room as he spoke, “do you want me to take your backpack?”  
“No I can do it I don’t need any help”  
Chris’s tone was slightly less gentle then normal, normally Eddie would ask about it but Chris was up earlier then normal so he’s probably just tired.  
“Ok the boys let’s go”   
Buck tossed Eddie his keys and off they went, pulling into the school just before 8:15.  
Eddie met with Mrs. Flores without Chris meaning buck was left to play with him while Eddie was in his meeting. Not that buck minded.  
Before they knew it Eddie was out of his meeting, clearly something was bothering him but he pretended everything was fine. Soon enough Chris was being ushered into his first class and buck and Eddie found themselves back in his truck.  
“What was the meeting about?”  
“Apparently Chris is refusing to accept help, I know he likes to do things on his own but he knows to get help when he needs it”  
“Maybe he’s going through an independent phase?”  
“Or he’s ashamed”  
“Why wou-” buck cut himself off he knows Chris has nothing to be ashamed of but he also knows that it’s hard to accept help, especially when it makes you stick out. He continued a little more hesitant.  
“I was going to say ‘why would be, he has nothing to be ashamed of’ but just because he shouldn’t be ashamed doesn’t mean he isn’t”  
Buck thinks about how he felt in school even after he found out he was dyslexic he still wouldn’t get help, It didn't matter how much he needed it.   
“You know buck that doesn’t make me feel any better”  
“Did you know I’m dyslexic?”  
“Um.. no”  
“Even though I know I don’t have to be ashamed of it, and I’m working on it - but I am. I am ashamed. I don’t tell people I’m dyslexic unless I have to. I didn’t accept any help until high school and the first time I actually asked for help was in the academy”  
“Buck, you shouldn’t be. No one is going to judge you for being dyslexic”  
“I know that, but no one knew how to deal with me growing up, I was the only one in my class with a learning disability so I never saw anyone else ask for help. Hell my parents hid it from me - of course I knew something was up I kept getting taken out of class for eye exams and my mo-”  
“I’m sorry, eye exams? I thought dyslexic was a brain thing?”  
“Yeah like I said my school didn’t know what to do so they made me get multiple eye exams before they would even consider giving me extra help”  
“That’s stupid. Sorry continued I interrupted you”  
“Um.. my mom told Maddie I was dyslexic in an argument. She told her that ‘this is too much to deal with on top of your brothers dyslexia’, then Maddie told me and I wasn’t going to tell anyone if my mom wouldn’t even tell me.”  
“That’s terrible, hiding a learning disability from the person who has it”  
“Yeah well of course I thought it was the worst thing ever especially after I found out from an argument”  
“I can see how this would fuck up any kid but you know that we’ve been nothing but supportive”  
“Maybe it’s not you”  
“I don’t understand the school is great they work with him in class, individually and in groups of other kids with ieps (Individualized education plans)”  
“Im sure that everything they’re doing is great and dyslexia and cp are in no ways the same but growing up I hated being singled out as different. Looking back it was definitely good for me and I would have never been able to ask for help later without that push but at the time it was the worst thing ever”  
“Yeah but i was good for you and you knew not to refuse help right? No kid would want to struggle just to fit in”  
“I used to refuse to do the workshops, they would call me down to the principal's office over the pa for them and everyone thought I was in trouble, I have to have to assessment done to begin with because I hated people knowing I was different”  
“I can’t ask the school to stop helping him though he still needs help”  
“I wish my school had asked me what I wanted instead of my parents, and that I had known it was ok to ask for help”  
“So you think I should tell the school that?”  
“He needs to learn to ask for help first, then he will tell them what he needs, maybe work on asking for help at home then set up another meeting, it won’t help to have too many meetings without him”  
“Ok so how do I teach him to ask for help”  
“I have an idea but you’ll have to trust me”  
“Of course I trust you”

Buck had already decided to spend his day with Eddie but for his plan to work he was going to need to cook. Eddie didn’t bother asking why. Bobby sent over a couple recipes and Buck decided to make two different currys, one for Chris (and himself) that wasn’t as hot and one for Eddie with some rice to go with. Even though it would take a while it would be perfect and give him lots of time to enact his plan.  
Eddie returned to from picking up Christopher to find buck in the kitchen preparing all the things he would need to make the more mild curry.   
“Hey eddie can you give me a hand?”  
“Yeah sure”  
Eddie arrived to find buck still cutting up veggies  
“What do you need”  
“Yeah can you read out the measurements for the spices last time I made curry a read the recipe wrong and it was inedible”  
“Yeah don’t do that I’ll read them for you”  
As Eddie read out the ingredients to buck and buck finished up the first curry he noticed Chris looking at them, gears turning.  
Once buck was finished with the first curry he moved on to the second.  
“Do you want me to read you the second recipe too?”  
“Yes please I was about to ask you to anyway”  
Buck was letting some of the veggies cook as he put on the rice and muttered something under his breath.  
“No do not put it that much garlic buck that is to what it says”  
“Oh sh..shot that would have been bad thanks Eds”  
“I’m here to help”  
Buck laughed a little at that noticing Chris was still listening in.  
The night continued and the three boys eat together before they decided to watch a movie before Chris had to go to bed. The movie buck pick happens to have one seen where the characters spoke in Spanish and buck did not speak Spanish.  
“Eddie can you read out the subtitles I can’t read that fast”  
“I thought you spoke Spanish, didn’t you like in South America?”  
“I lived in Brazil so no I speak Portuguese”  
“Oh ok then sure”  
As Eddie when back to the beginning of the Spanish section Chris finally asked the question he had been holding in all night.  
“Bucky why do you need dad to read everything to you”  
“ I don’t need him to read everything but I have something called dyslexia”  
“What’s that?”  
“It’s a learning disability that makes it hard for me to read and write, the letters get scrambled up in my head. All it means is that sometimes I need a little extra help sometime like when you’re dad helped me make sure dinner was actually eatable and just now when I asked him to help me with the subtitles”  
“But don’t you want to prove that you can do it on your own”  
“I don’t have anything to prove, I know I could do it, it would just take more time. I know I could read the subtitles if I really tried but then I’d be so focused on the words I would see the video so I asked for help”  
“Ok, can me watch the movie now? And tomorrow you and dad can help me with my homework?”  
“Of course Chris”  
The boys continued watching their movie, Eddie continued to read out the subtitles when the characters spoke Spanish.   
The three boys all now knowing it’s ok to ask for help.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it


End file.
